This study used visual attention characteristics to investigate the motivation to approach relationships and the influence of loneliness among individuals with high levels of relationship preoccupation and experience of dating violence revictimization. We divided 82 participants into four groups based on their level of relationship preoccupation and history of dating violence revictimization. Respondents completed a loneliness-inducing writing task followed by a free-viewing task using conflictual, intimate, and neutral relationship stimuli, during which we recorded their eye movements to assess initial fixation latency and total fixation duration. Results showed that after the induction of loneliness, individuals with a history of dating violence revictimization and high levels of relationship preoccupation exhibited an attentional bias toward stimuli depicting intimate relationships compared with conflictual or neutral stimuli. This highlights the need for trauma-informed public mental health strategies that address loneliness and emotional vulnerabilities to help prevent dating violence revictimization.
As virtual streamers are gaining popularity in live streaming social commerce (LSC), this paper explored how virtual streamers' social presence relates to consumer engagement in LSC, focusing on the mediating role of immersive experience. We collected data from 403 Chinese consumers who had watched virtual streamers in LSC and tested our hypotheses through structural equation modeling. Results revealed that the social presence of virtual streamers was positively associated with higher consumer engagement and also positively predicted consumers' immersive experience, which, in turn, exhibited a positive relationship with consumer engagement. A bootstrapping test with 5,000 resamples revealed a significant indirect path from social presence to consumer engagement via immersive experience. By highlighting this pathway, the paper both enriches the growing literature on LSC and delivers straightforward guidance for platform managers and brands.
Most studies of ethical leadership have included two dimensions: moral individual and moral manager. However, those concepts and their measures fail to fully reflect the Chinese cultural setting in today's business scenarios. Using the Confucian doctrine of ethical culture, in Study 1 we adopted grounded theory and the questionnaire-development method to create the new dimension of moral citizen, which exists in parallel with moral individual and moral manager in senior ethical leadership and reveals unique behavioral characteristics. In Study 2 we developed the Senior Ethical Leadership Scale, which was found to have good reliability and validity. The scale comprises three dimensions eliciting the key behaviors of improving oneself to serve others: moral individual, moral manager, and moral citizen. Thus, we have contributed to expanding the content of Western ethical leadership theory and opened up new avenues for future study.
Confucian pro-setback thinking is a cognition style that guides individuals to focus on the positive significance of setbacks. Based on the results of existing research and a series of theories, this study recruited 788 Chinese university students to complete the Confucian Coping Questionnaire, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, Self-Control Scale, and Authenticity Scale to analyze the correlation path between Confucian prosetback thinking and depression. The results indicated that Confucian pro-setback thinking had a significant and negative relationship with depression. Furthermore, both self-control and authenticity significantly mediated this relationship. These results also indicated a chain mediating relationship of self-control and authenticity between Confucian pro-setback thinking and depression among Chinese college students. The significance of these results for mental health education is discussed.
This study tested whether student engagement could predict English academic writing self-efficacy beliefs, applying partial least squares structural equation modeling to data collected from 318 Chinese undergraduates learning English as a foreign language. All six dimensions of engagement significantly and positively predicted academic writing self-efficacy beliefs, with cognitive engagement showing the strongest effect, followed by social, agentic, behavioral, emotional, and affective dimensions. These findings suggest that multidimensional engagement is critical for strengthening students' writing confidence, and highlight the need for pedagogies that cultivate both language skills and engagement.
Numerous studies have explored the relationship between core self-evaluation (CSE) and employee well-being, suggesting that holding a positive view of the world and having more resources for adapting to stressors are two main ways for employees with high CSE to gain well-being. However, employees with high CSE have also been characterized as being externally oriented, and modifying the environment is an indispensable mechanism through which personality influences well-being. Thus, applying conservation of resources theory, this study posited that employees with high CSE would invest more resources into conducting job crafting, thereby gaining well-being, and that the positive relationship between CSE and well-being via job crafting would be strengthened by empowering leadership. Using a sample of 315 participants, who completed a three-wave survey, all hypothesized relationships were empirically supported. Theoretical contributions and practical implications, as well as limitations and future research directions, are discussed.
This study explored the relationship between physical exercise levels and adolescents' social–emotional competence, and analyzed the serial mediating role of smartphone addiction and sleep quality. Data on physical exercise level, smartphone addiction, sleep quality, and social–emotional competence were collected via questionnaires from 311 adolescents. Correlation analysis results indicated that physical exercise level significantly and positively predicted adolescents' social– emotional competence. Both smartphone addiction and sleep quality served as key mediators of this relationship through three pathways: (a) the independent mediating role of smartphone addiction, (b) the independent mediating role of sleep quality, and (c) the serial mediating role of smartphone addiction and sleep quality. These findings reveal the underlying mechanisms through which adolescents' physical exercise levels influence their social–emotional competence and can inform the development of effective approaches to improving adolescents' psychological state and social adaptation skills.
This study explored the relationship between adherence to 24hour activity guidelines and depression/anxiety in children and young adults through a systematic review. We searched the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Web of Science, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Cochrane Library databases and included nine studies in our analysis. The results showed that adherence to guidelines for sleep, physical activity, and screen time were all associated with lower depression; adherence to guidelines for sleep and screen time was associated with lower anxiety; and simultaneous adherence to all three guidelines was most significantly associated with lower depression and anxiety. These findings suggest the need for public health policies on healthy behavior practices targeting children and young adults to prevent and control potential mental health problems.
This research applied broaden-and-build theory to examine whether the trait of positive affectivity influences employees' innovative behavior. We tested this through three mediating mechanisms: problem-solving ability, ego resilience, and perceived supervisor support. We also examined whether employees' openness to experience could moderate these three mechanisms. The results indicated that employees' positive affectivity was positively associated with their problem-solving ability and ego resilience, both of which predicted their innovative behavior. However, the mediation effect of perceived supervisor support was not significant. Openness to experience strengthened the mediating effect of ego resilience in this relationship. To foster innovative behavior in the workplace, managers may use tools such as personality assessments or situational interviews to evaluate candidates ' positive affectivity and openness to experience.
We explored the association between leisure arts participation and social-emotional competence among college students, focusing on the chain mediating roles of psychological resilience and social support. Students (N = 978) at nine universities in Fujian Province, China, completed a survey. Analysis showed there were significant positive correlations between leisure arts participation and psychological resilience, social support, and social-emotional competence. Leisure arts participation was positively associated with social-emotional competence both directly and indirectly through the serial mediators of psychological resilience and social support. That is, higher levels of leisure arts participation were associated with stronger psychological resilience and greater perceived social support, which were, in turn, associated with higher levels of social-emotional competence. This research provides a theoretical basis and practical implications for arts- based initiatives at universities to help students enhance their social-emotional competence and psychological well-being.
In our latest edition from the Editors ' Newsroom , Managing Editor Alex Cheyne speaks with Assistant Editor Annaliese Ludwig, who shares some tips on preparing a strong and compelling submission package. Annaliese has reviewed hundreds of manuscripts and knows what makes a strong submission stand out!
This study developed the Need for Cognition Scale for Medical and Healthcare Students and Professionals (NFCS-MHC-SP) to address the lack of a domain-specific scale for medical and healthcare professionals in Taiwan. We carried out a pilot study with 701 participants, with 386 undergoing exploratory factor analysis and 315 undergoing confirmatory factor analysis to assess the scale's psychometric properties. These analyses identified four factors comprising 31 items: ambition for academic and professional growth (11 items), diverse thinking in problem-solving orientation (nine items), passion for rigorous inquiry and critical analysis (six items), and intellectual curiosity for exploration (five items). These factors demonstrated adequate validity, reliability, and goodnessof-fit indices, providing empirical evidence that the NFCS-MHC-SP is a reliable and culturally grounded tool for assessing the need for cognition in medical and healthcare education and training settings.
Although cross-sectional studies have documented a close association between social presence and online learning satisfaction (OLS), evidence from multiwave survey studies remains limited, and the psychological processes underlying this relationship have not been sufficiently clarified. Guided by the cognitive-affective-social theory of learning in digital environments, we conducted a three-wave survey study to examine whether social presence predicts subsequent OLS, incorporating the mediating roles of flow experience and learning engagement. We gathered data from 687 Chinese university students in three monthly assessments over a 3-month period. Higher social presence was positively associated with higher subsequent OLS, and flow experience and learning engagement acted as serial mediators of this association. These results provide among college students.
A sense of meaning in life is an essential psychological asset for nurses, as it promotes resilience and well-being. With this cross-sectional study, conducted from January to June 2025, we examined meaning in life among military hospital nurses in Hubei Province, China. Using latent profile analysis, we classified nurses into three subgroups based on their meaning-in-life scores, and examined the link between life meaning and professional mission, along with how factors like gender, level of education, organizational structure, and psychological resilience predicted self-perceived meaning in life. The results revealed considerable differences in how nurses perceived meaning of life. Given these findings, nursing managers are encouraged to design targeted interventions that fit the demographic and psychological characteristics of each subgroup, with the goal of strengthening this essential psychological resource in clinical practice.
This paper examined the relationship between paradoxical leadership and employee creativity with special reference to workplaces in South Korea. We also explored the conditions under which this relationship is strongest, focusing on core self-evaluation and organizational diversity as moderators. We conducted a survey of 215 Korean employees, applying a hierarchical regression analysis to test our hypotheses. The empirical results indicated that paradoxical leadership was positively related to employees ' creativity. Moreover, core selfevaluation and organizational diversity strengthened the positive effects of paradoxical leadership on creativity. These findings have implications for organizational leaders seeking to deepen their understanding of the conditions that maximize the positive effects of paradoxical leadership and improve employee creativity.
I explored the predictive mechanism of moral identity for online altruistic behavior among young adults aged 18-35 years in the collectivist cultural context of China, incorporating interpersonal trust and social responsibility as mediators. Participants (N = 1,230) completed a survey of moral identity, online altruism, online interpersonal trust, and online social responsibility. The analysis results showed that moral identity directly and positively predicted online altruistic behavior, and also exerted a predictive effect through online interpersonal trust and online social responsibility as both independent and chain mediators. The study findings reveal the intrinsic psychological mechanism underlying the effect of moral identity on online altruistic behavior, providing practical guidance for improving the level of online altruism among young adults and constructing a healthy online ecology.
This study investigated the relationship between moderateto-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and aggressive beliefs in adolescents, with a focus on the mediating roles of regulatory emotional self-efficacy and self-disclosure. Participants were 433 secondary school students in Jiangsu Province, China, who completed measures of MVPA, regulatory emotional selfefficacy, self-disclosure, and aggressive beliefs. Results indicated that higher levels of MVPA were positively associated with regulatory emotional self-efficacy and self-disclosure, which, in turn, were negatively associated with aggressive beliefs. Regulatory emotional self-efficacy and self-disclosure individually mediated this relationship and also exerted a chain mediating effect. These findings suggest that engaging in regular physical activity can help adolescents manage emotions and express themselves, thereby reducing aggressive beliefs. This study offers practical insights for educators and policymakers aiming to foster safer, more supportive school environments.
Political participation in its conventional forms is crucial for the development of adolescents and young adults, along with society as a whole. Identifying the factors that influence such participation is key to fostering active engagement. This research examined how different time perspectives relate to conventional political participation, using a cross-sectional survey of 499 high school and university students in a province in western China. Linear regression analysis revealed positive associations between various time perspectives—namely, past negative, past positive, present impulsive, and future orientations— and conventional political participation, whereas the present-fatalistic time orientation showed no significant association with conventional political engagement. These results suggest that interventions targeting time perspectives may enhance conventional political participation among adolescents and young adults.
In the digital era, short-form video addiction among students has raised concerns regarding its impact on cognitive and creative development. This study investigated the relationship between short-form video addiction and student creativity, incorporating the moderating role of psychological resilience. I tested the proposed model with data collected from 300 Chinese college students. The results revealed that shortform video addiction negatively predicted creativity, while psychological resilience was positively correlated with creativity. Critically, psychological resilience significantly moderated the adverse relationship between addiction and creativity, attenuating its detrimental effects. Integrating cognitive psychology and resilience theory, these findings demonstrate that resilience preserves cognitive resources necessary for creative thinking despite addictive media consumption. This research advances understanding of the nuanced impacts of digital addiction and offers actionable strategies to foster creativity in a screensaturated world.
To promote the mental well-being and social abilities of people with disabilities, this study explored the effect of discrimination perception on social avoidance and its intrinsic mechanisms. We recruited 367 people with disabilities in Chongqing, China. The results showed that perceived discrimination among people with disabilities positively predicted social avoidance, and negatively predicted self-esteem and the extraversion trait. Further, both self-esteem and extraversion not only played mediating roles separately in the relationship between perceived discrimination and social avoidance, but they also jointly acted in a chain mediating role. This indicated that discrimination perception not only directly predicted social avoidance among people with disabilities, but it also indirectly predicted social avoidance through self-esteem and the extraversion trait. These findings provide important empirical evidence and practical significance for understanding social avoidance in people with disabilities.
